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On May 1, 2007, the United States Have Royalty Board approved a rate increase in the royalties payable to performers of recorded works broadcast on the internet
- This was the result of a two year proceeding, with dozens of witnesses and hundreds of documents from over twenty clashing parties, including large and small webcasters, NPR, college stations, and SoundExchange
- The CRB was privy to private financial records and line models of the webcasters, and after reviewing the evidence and testimony, issued their benchmark on May 1, 2007 (which is currently under appeal)
- If enforced, this agreement will undermine the vocation models of many Internet radio stations, which had previously relied on the dues of $0.000768 per expression that had been unchanged from 1998-2005. http://www.gracedigitalaudio.com/duploads/mini-sites/IR1000B/grace-wireless-internet-radio-stations.html These rules were scheduled to go into effect on May 1, 2007, with the first due date being July 15, 2007, and apply retroactively to January 1, 2006.
US Internet broadcasters organized a nationwide coalition to oppose the proportion hike and in cornerstone of the Internet Radio Equality Act. On June 26, numerous of them participated in a "Day of Silence" â either shutting off their audio streams entirely, or replacing their streams with static, ocean sounds or other ambience, interspersed with brief communal service announcements â to focus thought on the consequences of the impending charge hike.
